“A Poison Tree”: A Growth in Anger William Blake’s “A Poison Tree” takes the reader through the growth process of anger. Blake explores the nature of anger in two situations, one where the speaker is angry with a friend and one where the speaker is angry with an enemy. He uncovers the darker side of the nature of anger and how it can grow into something detrimental, inhumane, and deadly. Along with his use of metaphors and symbolism, Blake’s representation of a bitter, angry atmosphere full of wrath, gives the reader insight into the consequences of hatred. The first stanza provides important information that is carried through the entire poem. Here the reader is introduced to two different scenarios about the same issue. The speaker is …show more content…
The speaker allows his foe to “behold its shine” (11). The speaker is encouraging his enemy to want and desire something that he knew was not his. He covets the “apple” through a natural curiosity. The speaker is setting the enemy up for an act of revenge. In the last stanza of “A Poison Tree”, the speaker tells the reader what occurred overnight. The foe made his way into the speaker’s garden. The speaker alludes to the darkness of the night, “When the night had veild the pole ;”( 14). It is assumed the enemy ate the “poisoned” apple as the speaker found, “My foe outstretchd beneath the tree.”(16). It is not stated clearly whether the enemy fell asleep similar to Snow White or whether he was dead. Hatred grew from the seed of anger. Knowing of the speaker’s hate for his enemy, one can assume the enemy died after retrieving the apple. It is quite obvious that “A Poison Tree” alludes to Genesis and the story of the Tree of Knowledge, “but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”(Genesis 2:17). Adam and Eve were given the command not to eat the apple. Eve enticed Adam to eat the apple and the result was banishment from the Garden of Eden. The apple is a biblical metaphor for sin. As Adam and Eve gave in to the weakness of sin, so did the foe and the speaker in Blake’s
Knowles foreshadows the boys’ loss of innocence through the war, and their constant jumps from the tree. While getting ready for the war the boys practice and show off their skills on the tree by the Devon River. These jumps are done for fun yet the boys see them as a routine, something that has to be done. Knowles brings the theme of the loss of innocence in the novel for the first time by portraying Finny as the defender who gets the boys out of trouble by saying they had to jump out of the tree (22). This foreshadows how the innocence of the boys will be banished from themselves and their world. The tree also symbolizes the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge. Just like it is forbidden to eat the fruit, jumping from the tree was not allowed as well. By jumping from the tree the boys symbolically accept their loss of innocence, just like Adam and Eve accepted theirs.
situation is not to surrender to fear and the author shows this idea throughout the poem that we
The tree in this scene symbolizes a new life. This is where the theme changes from oppression in a marriage to one of freedom, where good finally triumphs over evil. For the past fifteen years, Delia had to endure all his nonstop abuse, yet now she is the one who has the power over him. He crawls to where she is and begs her to help end his suffering, but she had no pity left in her. The Chinaberry tree is what separates her new life from the old, painful one, located inside the house, where “the cold river [is] creeping up and up” (Hurston 630). Delia’s life is not over; it is about to be reborn. Although she can’t do anything to help Sykes since the doctors will not make it in time and she is too scared of the snake to go inside, she mostly decides to stay outside because she is horrified by the thought of Sykes going back to tormenting her for the rest of her life. Delia is finally liberated from her abusive husband.
Mason, Michael. Notes to William Blake: A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Ed. Michael Mason. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
The author explains the metaphor of the tree page 18. He uses it afterward to introduce each paragraph for pedagogic purposes. Ibid, p18.
My assigned poem is entitled A Poison Tree, by William Blake. The poem begins as such: angry with an enemy, the speaker stealthily plots the perfect revenge. He completely hides his motives as his plan grows and matures into an item of lust for the foe. Unable to contain his desires, the foe, under the cover of night seeks the item. The next morning the speaker finds his foe vulnerable and anticipating his arrival.
The speaker from the first stanza is the observer, someone who pays closer attention to the entire piece of work, noticing all the details and able to understand the painting as a fluid story and not a snapshot. He is a man with fishing experience. He knows violent the seas and the power nature holds, strong and unforgiving to any individual. The second speaker in the poem is the observer, his voice is heard in the second stanza. He describes the individual looking at the painting as an innocent bystander embracing the art in a museum. The man views the painting, not fully immersing oneself in the complete story of the painting. Instead, he just looks on as a spectator, not fully appreciating the intensity of what he is looking at. Breaking the poem into two stanzas not only allows Finkel to voice two speakers, but also allows him to alternate the tone. The tone of the first stanza with the observer is dark, the speaker describes the events in the painting with a terror, making the painting more realistic with hints of personal experiences. The second stanza is divided into two parts: the first is calm, the onlooker is innocent, gazing at the still image on the canvas, describing the painting at face-value. The latter half of the stanza brings the painting to life. Similar to the first stanza, it transitions back into darkness, a contrast of what the observer views on the
“A Poison Tree”, and many other poems by William Blake are superb examples of the Romanticism movement through their focus on the situation and sins of the common man and use of nature as a major symbol and conceit. These highly romantic characteristics, along with his simplistic language, convey the romantic focus on mankind. This poem is easily understood by all who read it; however simplistic it is, the message of warning continues to stand true. Blake’s unique transitional writing style to the romantic literary movement made him one of the most influential men in literature in his day. His works aided in the popularization of Romanticism, which continues to be a large contributor to the art and literature of today.
“There must be two roads and they must, of course, be different if the choice of one over the other is to make a rational difference ("And that has made all the difference"). But the key fact, that on the particular morning when the choice was made the two roads looked "about the same," makes it difficult to understand how the choice could be rationally grounded on (the poem's key word) perceptible, objective “difference”” (Lentricchia).
In “The Tree,” the speaker talks to a tree and express thanks for its “delightful shade” (1). The speaker goes on to talk of the others who benefited from the existence of the tree and gave it something back in return, such as the birds singing, travelers praising it’s welcome shade, and nymphs making crowns from its blooms. The speaker wonders what she can do to repay the shade given her by the tree. She decides to wish something for the tree’s future. She wishes, “To future ages may’st thou stand / Untouch’d by the rash workman’s hand” (19 – 20). Ultimately, she wishes something such as “some bright hearth” (32) be made from the tree at its death.
This lack of action continuously emphasizes the lack of empathy and care of the narrators and highlights to the reader the importance of acting differently from them. Through both of these poems the reader is shown that everyone faces struggles and how important it is to help others in their times of need because they too will face them at some
This is a poisonous tree, which also gives even more negative connotations. The fact that this tree is poisonous is just adding onto the speaker’s horrible day. Frost was very wise with his word choice
The imagery of nature and humanity intermingling presents Blake's opinion on the inborn, innate harmony between nature and man. The persona of the poem goes on to express the `gentle streams beneath our feet' where `innocence and virtue meet'. This is where innocence dwells: synchronization with nature, not synchronization with industry where `babes are reduced to misery, fed with a cold usurous hand' as in the experienced version of `Holy Thursday'. The concept of the need for the individual's faithfulness to the laws of nature and what is natural is further reiterated in `the marriage of heaven and hell' in plate 10 where Blake states `where man is not, nature is barren'. The most elevated form of nature is human nature and when man resists and consciously negates nature, `nature' becomes `barren'. Blake goes on to say `sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires'. This harks back to `the Songs of Innocence' `A Cradle Song' where the `infants smiles are his own smiles'. The infant is free to act out its desires as it pleases. It is unbound, untainted. Blake's concern is for the pallid and repressed, subjugated future that awaits the children who must `nurse unacted desires' and emotions in this new world of industrialisation. Despairingly, this is restated again in `the mind-forg'd manacles' of `London'. The imagery of the lambs of the `Songs of Innocence' `Introduction' is developed in `the Chimney Sweeper' into the image of `Little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, that curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd'.
One way that Blake manifests the theme of a man being corrupted though experience is with imagery. For instance, in “The Echoing Green,” Blake creates imagery that portrays children playing “on the echoing green” with their families “sitting under the oak” (10, 13). The imagery paints a picture of a perfect
In the last line of the second stanza, the subject enters dramatically, accompanied by an abrupt change in the rhythm of the poem: